


All the Stars in the Salted Sky

by citylitlena



Category: Treasure Planet (2002)
Genre: Adventure, Gen, Mystery, Other, Pirates, Solarpunk, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-11 02:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20146252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citylitlena/pseuds/citylitlena
Summary: Captain Amelia Smollett, space cruiser extraordinaire was not always so. How did she learn to Captain a ship? When did she and her first mate, Mr Arrow meet? Why did the film never discuss the extraordinary gay potential of this boot-wearing boss space sailor (JK, that one was because disney and made in 2002). That's this fic- pre-movie Captain Amelia stuff, adding in some interactions and other characters interacted with before the movie.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, Treasure Planet was one of my favourite disney movies growing up, along with Atlantis. From talking to my friends it could easily be one of those memes of 'if these were your favourite Disney movies, chances are you are gay now.'  
But there's no gay in the original movie. And it's all about Jim. Where's the badass space adventures of Captain Amelia, the one they had to injure as soon as they got to the titular planet, because we know otherwise she would have solved the whole sitch in a day and had John Silver under her catlike boots like it wasn't even anything.  
SO that's this work. Captain Amelia becoming a space badass bi captain. We start a little before that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hay all, thanks for the response to this lil first chapter! I have been writing more of this behind the scenes and I'm super excited about what is coming out about it. I also want to take my time to flesh it out properly and finish other fics I have hanging around at loose ends. The current rumour mill around a possible Treasure Planet re-release is that it might be a while coming out so I am holding off on posting this fic for a little while in case an announcement comes out and the Treasure Planet fandom crawl out of our bilge-y holds and take to space once more, hungry for content. 
> 
> Or until I just can't hold off posting more of this... It's so much fun!

The spaceport skies were awash with the hulls of so many ships the wide-eyed girl could not count them all. Every time she felt certain of a number, a whale-sized freighter would shift and reveal several smaller sloops. They swarmed in the mile-thick layer of atmosphere that separated the spaceport from the void of space. In the reddening light of the weak dwarf-star sun Amelia could see the stars scattered across space clearly, even as the port clock tower chimed midday. From her perch on the roof of her tiny rectangular apartment on top of six other similar ones she could see all this activity going by. Some would make up stories about where they were all going. One of them had black solar sails and was obviously set to hunt down pirates sneakily in the big void above. Another had fancy embroidery of mermaids and lions and would best suit the part of an evil magistrate’s treasure galleon, ripe for the picking of some righteous privateers. Most days she would steal away some time on the roof to sit and preen her ears idly while listening to the space shanties and making up stories. She always had to come down eventually when:  
“Amelia! Come on down pet, we’re needin’ you.”  
She always wished she could stay just a little longer, to see more ships that she knew well, regular characters that she had talked with the crew of, or new arrivals that swooped in once and could be half a galaxy away by now. She was still young, but she was also mature enough to know that her mother really did need her help- it made her feel important being involved in her meetings with mysterious strangers. 

Swinging down the hatch with catlike grace, Amelia tiptoed the rest of the way through the kitchen/sleeping room in the golden light of the glowing lanterns. She took a second to check her appearance in the blotchy mirror just outside the door. Reaching up she could feel the cows lick that always hung between her ears when she had been grooming too much and ruffled it back into place before lifting the prepared tray with a silver carafe and crystal glasses. Raising her nose to a sophisticated point she walked through the door and into the meeting room of Smollett Trades and Goods. This was her favorite part of the job- she often saw her mother meeting with ships captains, usually ordinary tradesmen and sometimes unusual in the extreme. Today there was an intimidating-looking person sitting awkwardly in the plush chair. They had six eyes and fangs framing a mouth of smaller, sharper-looking teeth. Despite this they shifted uncomfortably under their long black leather coat. They had thick and bony-looking protrusions where hair was on most tied back in a spiky ponytail. They were certainly one of the more threatening characters to have come through their office. Remembering years of teaching she gave no hint of her thoughts on the person and placed a cup down in front of them, then in front of her mother, who was sitting forward in her high-backed chair and poised as always with a fine quill pen. The carafe was hot when she grabbed it and as she tilted it to pour her mother’s voice ran through her head:  
Always pour the guest’s first Ami, we need to loosen their tongue before we get to the purses.  
A liquid black as night trickled from the carafe like a string of black pearls. It was deep and slightly fruity, but also strong and bitter. Steam rose as Amelia poured for her mother as the two prepared themselves for their conversation. As she finished pouring, Amelia looked up in just enough time to notice her mother give her a sly wink of satisfaction. She gave a small bow and retreated with the carafe into her corner of the room to the right of her mother’s desk and fixed her hawk-sharp eyes on the glasses. The stranger reached out and cradled the hot drink in his hands. Their fingers were bony and ended in small claws. They wrapped the cup up like a space serpent encircling it’s pray in a tall tale. After a long sip of the steaming liquid their eyes brightened. Amelia’s mother cleared her throat, which was the sign that the conversation was about to begin.

“Well, lets get down to business. You are Mr. Tinfil, I presume?”  
For such a scary face to be making it, the guest’s voice was smooth and deep as they replied:  
“That would be Captain Tinfil, aye m’am.”  
“Captain Tinfil. And you are here to discuss chartering a ship and a crew for a voyage to Buchanan Port-town, departing next week?”  
“Aye m’am”  
“My first question is this.” Amelia felt the edges of her mouth turn upward in a grin. Her mother was about to get down to the real work. Amelia liked to guess what her questions were going to be. For this one it was fairly obvious that she was going to ask:  
“You call yourself Captain Tinfil, and yet you are looking to charter a ship and a crew. I shall have to inquire as to where your own ship and crew are?”  
The stranger took a long sip on the drink and settled themselves in the chair more comfortably, twisting in strange, bumpy motions under that long jacket.  
“A sensible question m’am. My ship is under the command of First Mate Hans on another voyage- it’s my intent to reunite with the scunners at Port Buchanan and make sure they’ve not turned her into a wreck on the way.”  
“Mind your tongue sir, this is no dockside bar.” This was spoken as an aside and Amelia knew it was because she was in the room and her mother didn’t want her hearing words like those. Amelia wanted to scowl but kept her face like stone.  
“In your letter you said that your intent was to transport cargo which included cartographer’s tools, solar beacons and an engine with accompanying parts— is that correct?”  
“It’s true. And to be transparent with you m’am it’s the engine that drew me to your specific shipping services.” The stranger took another long draw of their drink and emptied the glass. As the light shining through the grand window behind them started to paint red lines all over the meeting room Amelia darted forward to refill their cup, stealing a glance at her mother and catching the narrowing of her eyes and the dilating of her thin pupils.  
“You have stepped right into my next question. What is so special about this engine? Is it one of these Arcturian crystal cores the whaler guilds are ever excited about?”  
“You’re almost correct there m’am. The engine itself is a powerful thing, made for hoppin’ nebula to nebula with heavy cargo, but in a much smaller package than the whale-sized haulers. The core is Corvian, not Arcturian. It’s a marvel, but they’d never allow it off-station. Especially in the care of one such as I.” Amelia could not stop her eyes from widening at this.  
“Do the customs officials have reason to know of you, sir?” Amelia held her breath- it’d be so much extra cash if they did.  
“No m’am. I’ve simply found on my travels that many of them get rattled by my visage. Tends to make the customs checks much tighter on me than any smoothskin. No offense meant of course”  
“Of course. It’s a story I have heard a hundred times over. It seems half my business these days is gained from the customs office.” Mother tilted her glass to the sky in a toast to the corrupt system.  
“Not to imply I have any love for the hawks that patrol these skies, save as a reason to ply my trade. Now I know we have a common enemy to work against I think I may be coming around to your proposition. Tell me, this engine, how dangerous is it? Something of the like you described must be absolutely dying to explode in some nasty way.”  
“Corvian cores run cold m’am, the fusion within them is clean. They don’t play well with water, but that’s never been an issue. That’s be your ‘dying to explode’ I suppose. It’d be a disaster for everyone on board the craft if that happened but all it needs is a tarp over it when it’s not in vacuum.”  
“Well those are not the worst safety precautions I have encountered. Where did this core come from? I am curious as to how I have been oblivious of such technology.” Mother settled back in her chair and took a long draw of the dark bitter drink. She pulled it off well, but Amelia just caught the wincing in the corners of her eyelids as the weird-smelling drink hit her mother’s mouth.  
“I’m no scientist. To be sure that much is clear. I’m hauling the engine through the stars for a researcher based out of a planet not too far from here. ‘Twas she and her team that made the engine. She’s family and much too busy and afraid to be plying the spacelanes, so it fell to me to take it to her colleague.” The more that was revealed, the more Amelia saw her mother’s eyes widen and their pupils narrow in focus. When she steepled her fingers pensively in front of her mouth, Amelia knew that this stranger had her mother’s interest hooked like a bluefin. When he paused for breath her mother waited patiently. Amelia took the break as a opportunity to swoop in and refill the two glasses. A smile began to form on the wide mouth of Captain Tinfil. 

They continued:  
“I’m sure you could find out so much more by acceptin’ my proposal- and my pay. I could even try to get my dear sister to send some personal mail with the next dispatch as to the thing’s progress. I’m sure she’d be greatly thankful.”  
“I think I would like that very much Captain Tinfil.”  
“Well then Ms. Smollett, do we have an accord?” Tinfil stood and extended a large and wickedly clawed hand that hovered over the desk like a mousetrap.  
“That would be Captain Smollett sir. And yes I believe we do.” She extended her dainty mitt to meet his claw and the two shook. Amelia was surprised by the gentle grace with which the stranger took her mother’s hand into his. The two locked eyes and held the hold for a second after the shaking finished. After that the stranger turned to collect their hat and gloves from the coatstand, only to find Amelia standing behind them and proffering the large black leather accessories. He grinned wolfishly (or so Amelia guessed- she had only ever seen holovids of wolves and they rarely smiled). Leaning down, he took his hat and gloves, donning them as he said:  
“How about you, little one? Are you a Captain too?”  
“My name’s Amelia sir. I will be a captain one day so you should remember it.” Then after Amelia realised she hadn’t ended that sentence politely: “Sir.”  
“Mayhap you will be- let me tell you this wee’n- you should try some of that coffee you’ve been pouring for me. All the spacefarers like me swear by it. It’ll keep you alert when there’s a sea-shark after you!” At this, Tinfil opened his clawed hands into a wide biting mouth and made them into a horrible toothy jaw coming straight for Amelia. She jolted back but also remembered she should keep good posture. Freezing, she tensed her shoulders and closed her eyes as she imagined the horrible fake shark getting closer, ready to bite off her nose.  
“Captain Tinfil! Don’t you have an engine to get moving?”  
At the sound of her mother’s sharp rebruke, Amelia opened her eyes, newly emboldened. She looked at the hand-shark, which was paused mid-bite. All she wanted was to strike it away but you don’t hit the ones paying your bills. She settled for looking up into Tinfil’s many eyes with a defiant twist to her face.  
“Apoligies m’am. You know us spacefarers, sometimes don’t quite know what to do with polite company like yourselves.”  
“Think nothing of it sir, I know my way around the language of spacehawks. This wallet of documents contains the whereabouts of our loading bay. I’ll be getting together some of my best to watch over the transport of this engine there. Keep it covered, and if anyone tries to stop you, tell them Smollett will have words with them if this cargo is seized.”  
“Much obliged m’am- will they come for us even on the stable land?”  
“One cannot be too careful when they run the whole port. Please sign here before you leave sir.”  
Captain Smollett presented a contract across the table. Amelia was already preparing a candle to melt wax for a seal and drew closer to the table. Her mother presented a quill and pen to Tinfil, who grimaced sheepishly  
“I’m afraid I’m not traditionally learned m’am- I can read fair well, but writing always did stump me.”  
“Any mark you usually use would do nicely sir. No mark, no contract I’m afraid”  
Looking side to side, Tinfil accepted the inevitable, making the mark of a clumsy cross marked with the letter ‘F’. Amelia’s mother examined the paper as she accepted the quill back from him.  
“Sir are you aware this is an ‘F’?”  
“That’s my mark m’am”  
For once her mother decided not to push her luck. There was somthing below Tinfil’s calm expression that was unsettling Amelia— perhaps he was simply nervous? Captain Smollett nodded, seized the pen and whipped it about expertly to sign a florid depiction of her own name. She tore the sheet into two, with the impressions of the marks of both parties on both sheets, tucking one into Tinfil’s document wallet. Tinfil nodded in thanks.  
“I’d best be making myself scarce then. Captain.” He nodded his head acknowledging Amelia’s mother as he moved to the door. Opening it, he turned backwards and doffed his cap once more, this time towards Amelia herself:  
“Captain.”  
The door swung shut with a gentle click. Despite the frightening nature of this man, Amelia could not help but feel intrigued. And she rather liked the sound of ‘Captain’.


	2. The Best Part of the Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting over, Amelia and her mother discuss their visitor as the light fades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'The Salted Sky' is what I'm deciding to call the ocean-esque understanding of space, referring to salt a popular trading resource as a spice. I wanted a phrase to use like 'the big blue' often used to refer to the ocean, but I can't just swap pot the colour of the sea for the colour of space because hoo boy that don't sound good.

Her mother was shifting through some papers with a thoughtful expression on her face, and Amelia took the chance to swipe up the two crystal glasses. As she did so her mother asked:   
“Ami, are you all right? Looked like Captain Tinfil gave you a shock on the way out.” Amelia felt the pressure release from her shoulders- mother was talking in her relaxed real voice now, not the received pronunciation she used for clients.   
“He was big and tall, but I don’t think he wanted to hurt me.”   
“You flinched like a rabbit caught in headlamps lil’ love.”  
Knowing she could not escape the objective vision of her mother, Amelia muttered something about how she definitely wasn’t scared and hurried back to the kitchenette, setting down the warm carafe and glasses. As she was about to head back through to the main room to attempt to annoy her mother away from paperwork she paused. Was it really true that this was what space captains drank? Cautiously, she sloshed a small sample into the glass her mother had been drinking from. Gingerly, mouselike, she brought it to the edge of her mouth and gave it a sniff. Her nose wrinkled and she stuck her tongue out at the assault on her senses. Maybe it was one of those things that smelled terrible but tasted great, like those big spiky fruits a merchant had brought as a gift last week. Taking one more breath she thought about the hand-shark coming towards her, about how scared she had been and how her mother had seen it so obviously. Amelia resolved never to show such fear ever again before tilting the glass backwards and letting the dark liquid coat her throat. That’s what it felt like as she spluttered and flapped her hand at her mouth. Her whole throat tasted just of bitter. Quickly, she took a draw of water from the sink and gargled, which only made the water turn bitter in her mouth. After a few more seconds of garlgling, refreshing and spitting she decided that she would just have to be a captain without coffee and she would be all the better for it. 

When she had regained her composure and rinsed everything in the sink and all the usual chores she made her way back to where her mother sat, scribbling notes over stacks of paper in the fading light. Her head rested on her hand- she looked tired. Amelia wandered casually over to her mother, all the bearing she had held when Tinfil had been in the room slipped off. Her mother noticed and glanced down as Amelia placed a steaming mug of hot tea within reach:  
“Oh, thank you darling.” Smiling, Amelia leaned in to meet her mother’s hand which was ready to massage her head in the most soothing way she knew.   
“What did you think of that gentleman today?”   
“He looked a bit thuggish but he had a nice voice. I think he knew what he was doing. But I don’t think he knew much about that engine he was talking about.”  
“I think you’re right Ami. Did you notice how he kept messing with the lapel of his longcoat as he talked about it?” Amelia nodded, wondering where her mother was going with this line of thought.  
“I think if he were to lose that engine nobody would take him seriously when he came looking for it- sounds like something out of a fairy tale. I barely believe it myself- I’m excited to see it tomorrow.”   
“Can I see it too?”   
“Of course. You’re my little helper after all- I’ll need you to make your sketches of the thing.”  
“Why is the engine so strange? I’ve never heard of Corvian cores.”   
“Well, Ami, hopping from nebula to nebula is never as easy as Captain Tinfil put it. You need more power than it’d take to fly the Tabitha for a solar year- and a ship twice the size to even fit it on. Engines like those are as big.”   
“As big as the house?”   
“Bigger, Ami.”  
“Oh. Is it very expensive?”  
“That it is. If our little job with Captain Tinfil goes well we might even be able to go somewhere new. Would you like that little Ami?”   
“Where would we go?”   
“Somewhere with bigger houses and maybe some more friends your age. You could go to school and learn to pilot boats yourself. And you won’t have to have bad creatures like Tinfil scare you.”  
“Mum, I wasn’t scared!”  
“I think you were!”   
“Wasn’t!” Ami shrieked with laughter as her mother’s wan smile turned into a devilish grin and her mother’s hands turned into tickling hooks which dug into her side as her mother chased her around the room for a minute or so. 

After they were both a little breathless, her mother resumed her seat in the high-backed red-velvet chair.   
“You should go and finish the lesson I set out for you little Ami. And remember- even if I get angry, or I seem like I’m being bad during this next week- I love you. Sometimes when we’re with the bad ones I need to pretend to be a little bad too.”  
“I know mum.”   
“And soon Ami- very soon I won’t ever have to do that ever again. I promise. We can go somewhere new and you can learn to fly and have friends your own age. And you’ll never have to come back here again.”   
“And I can still watch the ships come and going in the new place?”   
“There are always ships coming and going little Ami. And one day you’ll be on one, going up into the salted sky.”


End file.
